Friday, February 03, 2012

done at last!

©http://elephant-juice.blogspot.com/

Pattern: My own

Yarn: Zettl Valbella

Ravelled here.

I feel like these socks have been on the needles for forever! I started them back in November, and the first one lingered on the needles for a while, but the second seemed to fly off the needles! This was the first time I’d used short rows for socks, and I used shadow wraps for the heels and Priscilla Wild short rows (thanks Leah!) for the toes.

Shadow Wraps

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Shadow wraps were fun to work, straight forward, and the wrapped stitches are ridiculously easy to spot. I did blog about this short row heel a few weeks ago, and I still have the same issues with it. Perhaps it’s the position  of the short rows in a sock heel, but in order to avoid having large gaps I had to wrap the stitches again on the return row and this leaves a rather large messy ridge on the inside of the sock. It doesn’t bother me too much as it’s on the inside so can’t be seen, and it’s not something that I can feel when I’m wearing the socks but it is quite bulky. Again, I think this is from having to wrap the stitches twice, so perhaps working shadow wraps in their normal way doesn’t create such a pronounced ridge. I’d definitely like to try this method again to see how it works in a project that isn’t socks (Stripe Study Shawl, here I come!).

Priscilla Wild Short Rows

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So here’s the thing. I would never knit a short row heel on a top down sock ever again. On a toe up sock, great idea. But top down? No. My usual sock toe involves decreasing until I’m left with 18 stitches to kitchener together. It seems my brain took a holiday when I decided to work a top down short row toe and the fact that there would be 72 stitches to kitchener didn’t occur to me. There’s also a weird little bump either side of the toe which I’m not a fan of. But no matter, I’m telling myself that this was an excellent exercise in short rows!

So, Priscilla Wild short rows. I didn’t find them as much fun to work as shadow wraps, but they are just as easy and straight forward to work with the added benefit of being much neater on the inside of the sock. In fact, the only negative that I can find for this method (aside from them not being as fun!) is that the wrapped stitches are not as easy to spot as they are with shadow wraps so I felt like I had to concentrate a bit more on the return row of these.

Out of the two methods, I’m not quite sure I could say which I prefer. I feel as though the sensible option would be the Priscilla Wild method for the neatness on the reverse side, but there’s something about the shadow wraps that I just seem to enjoy more!

©http://elephant-juice.blogspot.com/

 

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Comments (18)

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Your socks are so cute! I would want to wear them every day!!!!!!

Love your blog name too!
My recent post Wedding Outfit Preview
1 reply · active 703 weeks ago
Thanks, they're super comfy!
These socks look great - I can't believe you matched the stripes so perfectly!!
1 reply · active 703 weeks ago
Thanks! It involved a lot of counting, but it was worth it in the end :)
Ooow Aaah, very nice!
willow4
1 reply · active 703 weeks ago
Lovely! Stripes are hard to knit without jogging - that and your short rows add up to a masterpiece! Congrats on a fantastic pair!
My recent post A while in fair isle
1 reply · active 703 weeks ago
Thanks! I've been wanting to try jogless stripes for a while, so this was a great chance to practice.
They are gorgeous! Also, no jog!!
My recent post FO Friday
1 reply · active 703 weeks ago
I tried a couple of methods for jogless stripes, but there are still a couple of teeny jogs if you look closely enough!
You rock!!!! I love the way the stripes match perfectly and thanks for the modification info.
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1 reply · active 703 weeks ago
Matching stripes are strangely satisfying, aren't they?!
I agree with you about using a short-row toe on a toe up sock. My favorite method is to start with a provisional cast on of half the number of sock stitches, knit a short row toe, and then pick up the provisional stitches to start knitting in the round. Then you end up with a well-fitting toe with no seam at all. The socks look fabulous!
1 reply · active 703 weeks ago
Yes, I've only done it once before but that's how I like to start a tow up short row toe too! It somehow seems less fiddly than casting on a small number of stitches and increasing til you get the width you want.
Oh, those stripes. What gorgeous colours and beautiful knitting. I love all the close-ups and technical knitspeak, too, even if it flies right over my head. (And yay for stripe study shawls, too! The ones I've seen around on FO Fridays are lovely, it looks like a great pattern.)
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1 reply · active 703 weeks ago
Thank you! Hopefully the knitspeak will come in handy for you one day :)

And YES! Doesn't Stripe Study look amazing? I've been dying to knit it ever since I saw it starting to do the rounds. I have some yarn ear marked for it, I just need to decide on the colour combo!
The socks look fabulous! I love the stripes. Interesting critiques of the short-row methods, as well. Both heel and toe on your socks look very neat and tidy to me.
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1 reply · active 703 weeks ago
Thank you, and thank you for pointing me towards Priscilla Wild! It was quite fun comparing the two different methods. Both short row methods look pretty similar from the outside, but the shadow wraps are MUCH messier on the inside.

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